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The Charming Quirks of Others: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel [Hardcover]

Alexander McCall Smith (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Book Description

Release Date: Oct 12 2010
The seventh installment in the beloved chronicles of Isabel Dalhousie finds our inquisitive heroine facing new intellectual challenges, but buoyed by her recent engagement to the nearly perfect Jamie.

After having dinner with Jamie, Isabel is approached by a pair of old friends, asking her to help them in a rather tricky situation. A successor is being sought for the headmaster position at their alma mater. The board has four final candidates. They received an anonymous letter, however, alleging that one of them has a very serious skeleton in their closet. Could Isabel discreetly look into it? The answer is of course, yes. Although for Isabel the whole investigation is even more revealing: she finds herself attracted to one of the candidates, which complicates her life immeasurably because she is engaged to Jamie, the father of her young son.

Dealing with issues of charity, forgiveness and humility, Isabel's most recent investigation is a revealing look at the need we all have to keep a little bit of ourselves hidden.

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Review

“Readers of the previous volumes will find the same quiet delights. . . . Even the quotidian becomes interesting in Smith’s deft hands.”
—People
 
“Crisp, often funny prose complements the author’s limitless reserve of good will and understanding of people in general.”
—Publishers Weekly
 
 “[McCall Smith’s] sly observations on the human condition remain warm and intelligent, and the evocative description of the Scottish cityscape is utterly beguiling.”
—Library Journal
 
“Marks [Isabel Dalhousie’s] finest hour to date. . . . A powerful demonstration of Smith’s ability to dramatize the ways everyday situations spawn the ethical dilemmas that keep philosophers in business.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 
“If this were music, it would be praised and played at daybreak, admired for its sinuousness and structure.”
—The Scotsman

About the Author

ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH was born in what is now Zimbabwe and taught law at the University of Botswana. He is now Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He has written more than fifty books, including a number of specialist titles, but is best known for The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, which has achieved bestseller status on four continents. In 2004 he was awarded British Book Awards Author of the Year and Booksellers Association Author of the Year. He lives in Scotland, where in his spare time he is a bassoonist in the RTO (Really Terrible Orchestra).
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Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars More Subtle Practical Philosophy Challenges for Isabel Dalhousie Jun 2 2011
By Donald Mitchell #1 HALL OF FAME TOP 10 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
"Rescue me and deliver me out of great waters,
From the hand of foreigners,
Whose mouth speaks lying words,
And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood." -- Psalm 144:7-8 (NKJV)

Reading this series is enough make a reader wonder if being aware of philosophy is a blessing or a curse as Isabel Dalhousie agonizes over tiny aspects of her life, such as how to respond to a contributor she doesn't like who tells her that he is going to send a book review that she doesn't want to receive. The larger issues in this novel relate to being asked to investigate three candidates for a headmaster's job and responding to Jamie's not telling all about a woman who is making a play for him. A few minor matters also arise for philosophical consideration.

As is often the case in the series, the book reminded me of the kind of hypothetical discussions that law professors loved to lead us through. They make you think . . . and you realize that clear answers may not be easy to find.

To me, the best two parts of the book came when Isabel's persistence led her to reach somewhat Solomon-like judgments about what the right thing was to do. Those were neat solutions. Otherwise, I think the book would have been very forgettable.

I think the differences here between Mma Precious Ramotswe and Isabel Dalhousie . . . and between Botswana and Scotland count for a lot. When not much happens in Botswana, there's still an exotic charm and the immense appeal of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency characters to carry the books forward. Isabel doesn't really have any problems, her Scotland isn't all that charming, and the other characters aren't terribly interesting.

But if you like to read fiction about applying philosophy to daily living, these books certainly provide quick and pleasant ways to do so.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Isabel Dalhousie Has a Rival? Never! Nov 28 2010
By Alison S. Coad TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Charming Quirks of Others, by Alexander McCall Smith, is the seventh in his Isabel Dalhousie series, and once again finds Isabel ruminating about a variety of ethical and philosphical dilemmas. This time, she has been asked to look into the backgrounds of three men who are short-listed as possible replacements for a headmaster at a private boys' school, after the head of the board of directors of the school receives an anonymous letter suggesting that there are unsavory secrets hidden in one unidentified candidate's past. Isabel has also received a rather imperious letter from one of her nemeses, Professor Lettuce, who intends to write a review of a new book written by her other nemesis, Christopher Dove, for publication in her quarterly journal, the "Review of Applied Ethics," with neither a request from Isabel nor a by-your-leave touch of humility from Lettuce; and she has learned that another woman, a young woman who is pathetically dying without ever having experienced physical love, has been importuning Jamie to correct that situation before it's too late, even as Jamie is suggesting to Isabel that they finally get around to getting married, almost two years after their child Charlie was born....As always, the dilemmas are both gentle and thought-provoking, and as always, with some help from Jamie Isabel resolves them to at least her own satisfaction. What struck me most about this entry in the ongoing series is how much the sense of place, of Edinburgh, permeates the narrative - just as Donna Leon's Venice, or Andrea Camilleri's Sicily are in many ways the heart and soul of those series, so McCall Smith's Edinburgh is passionately evoked, the kind of writing that can only come from the author's deep understanding of and love for a particular place. Wonderful.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Misleading product description Nov 16 2010
By Phoebe TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
In the Product Description of "The Charming Quirks of Others," we're told that Isabel is attracted to someone else while she is living with Jamie. I purchased the book with this in mind, rather hoping that the not-terribly-interesting-Jamie may be supplanted. Nothing of the sort occurs. Without giving away what does happen, suffice to say that, despite a tiny bit of questioning about her feelings for Jamie, Isabel develops no attraction to another living (fictional) soul.

While I like the series, I believe that the author is running out of ideas. One has to wait for a long, long time before something actually happens to Isabel in this novel. (The same was true of the last two as well.) I believe that the first three in the series are the best; this latest is rather forgettable, but since I like the character of Isabel, I felt compelled to buy and read the most recent instalment, just to see what she has been up to. (Not very much, it seems. Her life has become rather too settled.)

If someone were to dip into the Isabel Dalhousie series of novels, it would not be a good idea to start with this one. Begin at the beginning and you will enjoy them more.
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